Marion Brady, The Washington Post: "For the last 20 years, I’ve done my best to burn holes in the myth that standardized tests are a means to the end of improving America’s schools. I haven’t the slightest doubt that if the testing tail continues to wag the education dog, it will kill the dog and with it the ability of future generations to cope with their fates." [...more]
Yes, the overweening influence of corporate lobbyists has effectively neutralized policy and confused the public debate on our most serious problems. Yes, the capitalistic system favors short-term concentrated profits over long-term public good. And yes, the simple human preference for happy talk over sad stories plays a role in our denial. [...more]
A study forthcoming in the Journal of Labor Economics suggests that high-quality teachers tend to leave schools that experience inflows of black students. According to the study's author, C. Kirabo Jackson (Cornell University), this is the first study to show that a school's racial makeup may have a direct impact on the quality of its teachers. [...more]
Public middle-grades schools placed under private management in 2002 as part of a state-run overhaul of the Philadelphia School District did not keep pace with the rest of the city's public schools, according to a study published in the American Journal of Education. [...more]
Research led by a University of Illinois kinesiology and community health professor suggests that physical activity may increase students' cognitive control -- or ability to pay attention -- and also result in better performance on academic achievement tests. [...more]
Much of western society has been inherently taught through the establishment of educational institutions that knowledge of the world, people and events solely emanates from textbooks, scholars and the media. Historically, the mass education of children has facilitated in the suppression of independent thought, self-efficacy and personal responsibility leading to conformity, lack of awareness, little respect for differences and a systematic fear of change leaving individuals devoid of true spiritual knowledge. [...more]
